by Taylor Deer
We at Phired Up spend so much time giving good advice that I think its time to take a break and give you some awful, terrible, advice that you should never ever use. With that being said, here are 11 different ways to be completely awful at recruitment:
1) Don’t talk to anyone who is not in your chapter…except when you’re asking the question “Have you ever thought about joining Greek Life?” When they say “no” and walk away, make sure you say “pffff GDI” and walk away…
2) Get your name out there! Make sure you spend all of your time, ALL of your time, designing and copy-writing major beer distributors’ logos and sticking them on T-Shirts and Flyers. Nothing says leadership like not being able to create your own brand. We know that people join fraternities because of their relationships with the members of that chapter. So, this will make sure you don’t have any time to do any of that.
3) Don’t keep track of your potential new members. You’re smart, you will absolutely be able to recall important information of about 50 potential new members when the time comes. If you forget five or 10 dudes no biggie, they probably weren’t going to make good brothers any way.
4) Don’t set any goals. When brothers ask how recruitment is going, you just respond, “Great! Real solid group of guys… real studs.” Be sure to remember that when you have a smaller than average pledge class to lean on the argument, “were about quality not quantity.”
5) Don’t seek any advice from anyone. Not the past recruitment chair, not professional recruitment education companies, no one. Its your first year in the position and your second year in college, you DEFINITELY have the experience it takes to establish a high performing recruitment system for your chapter. And definitely don’t click on this link.
6) During the bid meeting, make sure that every member gets to say “he’s a good guy” and “he’s super chill” multiple times per candidate. Nothing gives a more accurate picture of quality membership than subjective and nebulous labels that no one really understands.
7) NEVER join other clubs and organizations. The dudes who deserve to join your chapter will always find you one way or another.
8) Walk in big groups with matching Fraternity T-Shirts. This is the best way to never meet anyone and to get your name out there simultaneously. Its a twofer.
9) Instead of spending money on things that directly communicate your chapter’s values and attract people with those same values… Throw the biggest parties! The highest performing organizations with the highest quality members who make a daily impact on the world probably all attract those members because of how many kegs they can put in their basement.
10) Casually hand out as many bids as possible. Saw some kid wearing a “chill to pull ratio” T-shirt. Give him a bid. Tell him to take it and think about it for a few days, then bring it back to your house if he’s in. The best of the best only make rash decisions to join lifelong organizations when given a piece of paper by a stranger.
11) Make sure to never question your process. Say things like “that’s just the way it is” and “that’s just how our system works”. If you change something, even if its a small something, you might find out that it works better and you definitely don’t want that!
I hope you read every single one of these and do the exact opposite. If you want to figure out how EXACTLY to do that. Check out all of this free knowledge that will help you out: www.phiredup.com/free-stuff.
By Matt Mattson
We’ve been in this fraternity/sorority business a while, and I’m proud of the impact we’ve made. Many of our friends and colleagues in the industry often ask us, “So, what’s next?” I love that question.
Obviously, when Phired Up purchased a marketing company and created a technology company last year, that was a pretty major step forward. But we’re never satisfied. With Jessica Gendron Williams as your CEO, you can’t be satisfied. She won’t allow it. I love that about her. She’s pushing our team to create and innovate as always.
When “innovation” is a core value of your company, you have to ask, “What’s Next?” a lot.
I don’t really know for sure “What’s Next” for the fraternity/sorority world, but I’ll make some guesses.
I have some other thoughts, but I’ll stop at 6 wild predictions for the future of fraternity/sorority life. Some of my other ideas are a little cynical, admittedly — gluten free chapters, parents rooms in chapter houses, and republican vs. democratic umbrella groups. Mostly though, I’m hopeful for our industry. We are evolving. We are advancing. We are innovating.
I’m proud that Phired Up is working every day to play a small role in the continual innovation of our movement.
What’s Next?
by Woody Woodcock
By now you know It is almost election season…no, not the Presidential one, but your new exec board is certainly right around the corner. Many people think the President is the most important position to elect in a fraternity chapter, and while that may be true I think potentially the most important role is who you elect to organize and attract people to your organization through recruitment
I often say, “Recruitment is not an event, or a time of year, it is a relationship we build through intentional and meaningful connection. The relationship you build with another human (also known as a friend) has no time limits and no restrictions on what you talk about, or how often you get to hang out. True recruitment is just you being you making more friends each day. Finding the right leader in the fraternity to be in charge of recruitment is key to how the rest of the chapter will see recruitment every day for the next year.”
If you have been around fraternity/sorority long you know what typically happens during election time. I bet you could share story after story of heartbreak as the wrong people get selected time and time again.
Here is what some of you have shared about past election time looks like:
At Phired Up we always want to help our advisors, alumni supporters, and student leaders stay ahead of the curve with important themes and trends. This month we think helping educate people on how to elect the best fraternity recruitment chairman is important. Better people in the right spots could equal better people being attracted to your fraternity or sorority.
So…
What should we be listening for in their speech or campaign?
Who should you nominate/encourage to run this November?
What qualifies them to be nominated?
We want to make your role as an advisor, alumnus, or high caliber chapter leader simple not harder. We want to equip you with deeper questions on the right things to look for.
Top 15 Questions you may want to ask to go a bit deeper:
There aren’t necessarily right or wrong answers, but these are some of the questions we’d ask when considering who to put in the role of recruitment chair — the person we’re trusting the future of our organization with for the next 12 months.
Let’s put the right people in the right roles to help them attract the right amount of the right new members to our organizations this year.